It is that time again when I run my thoughts freely. Here it comes.
Everyone's got an opinion, everyone "know" they have the answers, and of course everyone has a side of the story.
Everyone is rather smart. Everyone can speak their mind.
It is rather amusing when I brought issues like: "Hey guys, the fans would appreciate a journal. How about you actually stick to writing a journal monthly?" We all agree, and eventually I cannot rampage on ranting on them for the sake of NOT being able to even reply to me back because sadly the 4 or 5 hours AFTER WORK they have available they spent about 20 different assignments being corrected, as well as reporting, updating, fixing, meeting, emailing and then repeat that all over again.
Neil and I pretty much put everything together in this website for a reason, not because we had one nice couple of weekends off and we decided to "Hey! let's make a journal!" But everything will always work best in black and white, but when you go into management and relating with people it will always be taken to a whole new level. Especially towards a project that might require about 8hr daily, yet we need to be rather thankful we actually HAVE folks working about 2 or 3hr a day. We don't pay them and sadly we won't ever, I don't even know why they agreed to join us in the first place because we all do is expect them to do more and more each week, yet apparently quoting the fans it is simply not enough.
You can tell people what to do but you can't do it for them. Yet, in this particular situation you should be THANKFUL of what they do no matter what. Because even though we might need (example) 10 people for a specific task, we have 3. Do they make the work of 10 people? of course not. They barely even make it as their own, but we are rather amazed we have the quality and talent of those 3 amazingly valuable folks.
And this is just a grasp of what coordination insight would be. As you can find forum drama there is always plenty and colorful team drama as well. Why? we work with people, and people go on vacations, people get sick, people move, people miss deadlines, people get jobs, people have babies, people get better soul consuming jobs, people won't change and we can't expect any different. If we were indeed PAID, and we could grab this people with a CONTRACT, then by all means they wont only give us their leisure AND sleep time, they will give us their freaking souls and every single unborn baby. Yes, they love the project this much apparently. It must be Cesar's new perfume?
Then again, I might be one of the few that is in direct contact with both sides and I hear complains from both sides and I must say it's a wonderful choir, I should write a book once this game is out. True story.
But you have read all of this before, because this isn't the first time I ever comment on anything like this.
Bottom line, no one will be truly satisfied and perhaps this time it's on the fans side. Everyone is working as hard as humanly they can, we are stuck in a bad position because legally we are still less than dirt. We do not have the money, we do not have the copyrights we do not even have the time to work on this yet we are making it happen!
Do you enjoy my rants? No, of course not because they don't give you the core information that you wish to know. Can I provide you a release date? I wish, because not even Cesar can. We would finish the game, then send it to VU then figure out what the crap is going to happen legally: Will they allow it to go through? (insert here all legal drama yet to happen which cannot be disclosed yet) Will Cesar snap and run away to China with the game? Will one of the directors die and then who might carry it on? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure whatever happens I will take my sweet time off work and sit here and write down an announcement, newsletter, fortune cookie and perhaps even smoke signals to let everyone and their mom know. Trust me, I feel like that lil' kid waiting for the big gossip so I can run and tell my best friend.
Everyone complains how POS is a company and we talk about this being our "product" and whatever else. Truth is, POS costs us yearly (it is indeed a registered company) and how much is anyone here making out of this? Not even free drinks. We have this large website, hosting and whatever other insane costs (even snacks we buy for those sleepless night) and who pays for that? Not VU that's for sure! Does anyone care? I think not, they claim we are ridiculously amateur and how dare we have "clients" without letting them know the "status" or "future" of the product (insert here whatever else you have read in whatever quotes you might please) while in reality this whole thing costs more than what it has EVER produced, which is clearly NOT A SINGLE PENNY. Yet we demand portfolios, resumes, interviews, trial times and yes people can get kicked out of the team as well for not meeting deadlines or just not respecting the NDA. People get accepted, people get turned down. They are demanded more time than what they can give, but they get paid with just a kind pat in the back, a virtual one at that. Kinda unfair if you ask me but they work with a smile on their faces!
Does this make sense? Perhaps it doesn't. Does anybody care what people do or do not do to make it happen? Probably not. It is rather easy to point out all the black empty spots instead of actually being reasonable and understanding of the reality of the whole. Very few would grasp the reality of what goes on behind the names, what people has to go through and what it really takes to be able to draw a dream and then make it happen. But whatever you want to think or make of it I can clearly assure you that this IS happening and it IS on full production. I get about 10 to 20 emails DAILY regarding production, assignments, uploads, comments, even freaking spam from users that get their account spammed and it's rather an adventure to go through that sea of words.
Just to have a sense of what it really is being a Director of such a project, I cannot believe how Richard Flores for example had to deal with the death of such a close relative yet literally shake it off and come back to work ASAP because only he's insane enough to carry on such large and chaotic department. Yes, we all have had to go through personal life changing moments throughout the development of this game. Do I get mad that he doesn't give me 10 min of his WEEK to write down a single paragraph about development? Perhaps I should. Instead I'm thankful of everything he has done so far for as long as he has, I cannot do different but cheer him up and support him. No matter what I read and how many times I read it.
I'm not asking for pity, I'm not asking for money, I'm not even asking for sympathy! All I expect for is for people to be understanding and honest with each other (fans and team). I can clearly understand how anyone would get upset and pissed they don't have a game when it has taken as freaking long as it has. For crying out loud, I wanna play the darn game already myself. But then again, I look into the other side and I see people working so hard, meeting deadlines then somehow missing others. Seeing how enthusiastic and how devoted they are even though they might not be able to dedicate more than 1 or 2 hours a day or every other day. And It's difficult to not understand how they might feel, the pressure, the need to just get over with it because they are spending every living free moment working on something that does not give out any real profit but a personal gratification. It's a complicated situation, but I will not lie to anyone and I will not go out of my way to comply to rants.
I clearly have nothing best to say than "yes we are working on this" because we are. Regardless of the rants, disappointment, lack of communication (or anything to communicate for that matter) it is happening. Obviously I do not have the need to reply to every single post myself anymore, that's why I have mods who are wonderful enough to be able to deal with me and to deal with you. For free, with their best intentions, and with all the free time they have to give to you. They are on this website probably more than what they should, yet some call it "apathy" or such, also they reply to pretty much everyone even though when they probably don't have the time for every single reply.
Anyhow, this was just a long rant that had a while coming. The feedback as of lately has been rather negative and it's just because the frustration of not having the game downloaded in your computer ready to be installed. We are doing everything we can in the time we can and however we can possibly make it happen. If things were to be different I wouldn't have mods working for me, I wouldn't have this website up I would just set up a banner/announcement with whatever pertinent info/excuse you want to name for whatever drama/situation going on. Why waste anyone's time? I certainly wouldn't enjoy working for something that has no future or that seriously is not happening. I'd rather just call it good and let everyone enjoy their weekends however they'd find it more convenient than having a long annoying meeting to update them on what's going on so they can reply to whatever you ask them.
It boggles me how negative people can be just for the sake of being it, how easy is to get to conclusions without even truly thinking what they have to say before the run and type down whatever their frustrations tells them to. I get it, you want the game and that's what you'll get. It is not as soon as you (or we) might have wanted it to, but hey it is happening.
I hope you have enjoyed this long rant as much as I did. There's an update somewhere in that long post. How's that for an independent thought? Even Directors get to rant sometimes.
PS: It's 1am here and I should go to bed. I am guilty of *not* reading after writing to correct any typos, grammar or silliness.
No Cesars were harmed in the making of this post.
